


I'll Be Here When You Wake

by Dragonheart37



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nonverbal Communication, They're both doing their best, Tumblr Prompt, but oh well, by which i mean alivar plays 20 questions trying to understand what's happening in his kid's brain, i feel weird tagging reykal as bounty hunter tbh bc she's Just A Kid in this fjkdfjks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:42:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27729703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonheart37/pseuds/Dragonheart37
Summary: Alivar wakes up in the middle of the night to find the young orphan Togruta he recently rescued awake and crying, and does his best to comfort her.Set at some nebulous point after the Smuggler storyline finishes, except I haven't actually finished the Smuggler storyline myself yet so no allusions to plot will be made. Set between Alivar trying (and failing) to leave Reykal behind after leaving the planet he found her on and him giving up on finding a place she can stay and just adopting her instead.For the prompt "I'll still be here when you wake" from this prompt post on Tumblr: https://dragonheart-swtor.tumblr.com/post/635877542590545920/
Relationships: Female Bounty Hunter & Male Smuggler (Star Wars)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	I'll Be Here When You Wake

Alivar woke with a start, though he couldn't say what had woken him. He hadn't been dreaming, as far as he could remember.

The hallway light was on. Who was up at this hour? No one was usually moving around during the night cycle, and the only people on the _Silver Jakkbar_ right now were him, his crew, and -

Oh. The Togruta kid.

He sighed and got out of bed.

She'd turned the lights on in every room she'd passed through, it seemed like, so it wasn't hard to track her to the cargo bay. Alivar caught the sound of sniffling and paused, trying to locate it. He settled on a stack of crates near the back well and approached slowly, knowing she'd probably already heard his footsteps. “Kid?” he asked. “You back there?”

A pause, followed by a huge sniff and a pair of red-and-white montrals slowly poking up over the edge of one of the crates, then big golden eyes, pale blue skin around them purpled from crying. “Aw, hey, kid,” Alivar sighed. “Is it okay if I come back there?”

Reykal sniffed again and nodded slowly, wiping her eyes with one hand. He moved around the crates until he could see her curled up behind the stack in a space too small for him to follow her into, then crouched down to her level. “Hey, kid. Can't sleep?”

She shook her head.

“Bad dreams?”

She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes again.

 _Can't blame her._ “Want to talk about it?”

She shook her head again, face sinking slowly behind her knees.

“That's all right, you don't have to.” He hesitated, then sat down all the way. “You want a hug?”

She flew into his arms almost before he'd finished the sentence, as soon as he opened them to offer it. If he hadn't sat down already, he probably would have been knocked over. She hid her face, arms locked around his neck as he hugged her back. “Hey, easy, kid. I've got you.”

He let her cry herself out like that, rubbing her back gently and trying not to complain when her arms tightened enough to risk choking him. “We should get you back to bed,” he murmured at last. “It's too late for a kid like you to still be up.”

Reykal shook her head, tightening her grip on him and making a noise of protest into his neck. He paused. “C'mon, kid. You can't stay here all night. It's too cold. You'll freeze your toes off.” He poked the sole of her bare foot lightly as he said it, and she twitched away and giggled a little. “C'mon. Can I pick you up?”

She nodded, and he heaved himself to his feet, holding her up on his hip. “Alright, let's go.”

He made it into her room before she started protesting, clinging to him tighter and shaking her head, whining softly when he tried to put her down on the bed. “Hey, hey, easy, kid,” he soothed, pausing. “Can you tell me what's wrong?”

She hesitated, face twisting like she might start crying again, and Alivar murmured, “Hey, it's okay. I'll guess, and you can nod yes or no. Okay?” She nodded slowly.

Alivar paused to think, blowing out a breath as he did. “You don't want to go to sleep?”

She looked away, shrugging.

 _Think. Where did she go? Cargo bay. But why?_ “You went somewhere else,” he mumbled, half to himself. “Why? Is it something about the room?”

She shook her head. “Something else, then.” He racked his brain, trying to think. _Why cargo bay?_

Something occurred to him. “That's where I found you when you first snuck onto the ship,” he said slowly. “And afterward, when Bowdaar scared you by accident and you ran and hid. You... you wanted me to find you again?”

Reykal nodded slowly, not meeting his eyes, and he chuckled a little. “Kid, you could've just come to my room. I don't mind.” She shrugged. He hefted her a little higher on his hip; she was getting heavy, but she clearly didn't want to be put down. “You want to come sleep with me?” he asked gently.

She nodded, much more enthusiastically this time, though still not looking at him. _That's okay. Poor kid. She just doesn't want to be alone._ “Alright. C'mon, then, let's go.”

This time when he tried to set her down, on his bed instead of her own, she let go of him, if somewhat reluctantly. “There we go.” He booped her nose lightly, making her giggle a little, and climbed into bed after her. “Alright, kid, time for bed.”

Reykal curled into his chest, making him lift his head so his chin rested between her stubby montrals, and huddled against him. “'S okay, kid,” he murmured. “I'm not going anywhere. I'll still be here when you wake up. Promise.”

She must have believed him, because she was asleep in minutes.

**Author's Note:**

> A _jakkbar_ is a species of bird native to Mirial, which has some significance in Mirialan culture and which I made up wholly for the sake of giving Alivar's ship a name.
> 
> This is actually the first time I've written anything significant for Alivar fic-wise, so that was fun. He usually comes across in a different tone than when he's with baby Reykal, haha.
> 
> I haven't actually decided if Reykal going nonverbal sometimes is a trauma thing that fades as her mental health improves, or if it's just a Thing with her; either way, they have some adventures trying to figure out effective communication methods when she can't talk.


End file.
